I would rather not see this further shrinkage of the US airline industry. This deal means that four mega carriers will control about 85 per cent of the US domestic airline traffic. My preference would be for International Airlines Group (British Airways/Iberia) to merge with American. Yes, it breaches current US airline ownership laws which still limit foreign ownership of US air carriers. It would diminish some trans Atlantic services but would create a very large global airline and maintain some competition in the US market. A market, which has already seen Northwest and Continental vanish.

Some questions from me:

How long before the Phoenix hub goes. It is effectively sandwiched between the DFW and LAX hubs. It would make sense for traffic to be routed away from PHX in favour of those two AA cities.

How long before Philadelphia is whittled down in favour of Miami and JFK. US has abandoned Pittsburgh and American exited St Louis

Will the Reservations system be American’s Sabre or US Airways Shares ?

Will American keep its brand new livery which will be on 73 planes by the end of 2013?

Can CEO Parker repair the low American Airlines staff morale?

Will AA service improve (I put American in the bottom ten airlines I have flown on)